The couple throw out the first pitch at an Astros game at Minute Maid Park in 2009 (Karen Warren/Chronicle).

The couple throw out the first pitch at an Astros game at Minute Maid Park in 2009 (Karen Warren/Chronicle).

Photo: Karen Warren, Chronicle

Houston's 'Little Couple' has a new son

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When we last saw "The Little Couple," Bill Klein and Dr. Jen Arnold were thinking about adoption. In the show's new season, which starts at 9 p.m. Tuesday, we'll watch them travel halfway around the world to meet their son.

Klein and Arnold, the local duo that stars in the TLC reality series "The Little Couple," both have forms of dwarfism - he's 4 feet tall, and she's 3 feet 2 inches. Last year, after struggling to have a baby, they decided to adopt a child who has dwarfism as well. In March, they brought home a 3-year-old boy from China they've named William.

"It's been quite an experience," Klein said last week. "We're learning as much as he is and soaking it all in."

The whole process - from meeting an adoption agent to bringing William home - will be chronicled in the sixth season of "The Little Couple."

Two episodes will air back to back. In the first, Klein and Arnold meet with a representative from Rainbow Kids, an adoption advocacy group. The woman pulls a photo from her briefcase, their first glimpse of the boy who will become their son.

"When we first saw him, we thought he had the most beautiful eyes and smile and looked like he was meant to be ours," Arnold said.

More Information

'The Little Couple'

Season 6 premiere

When: 9 p.m. Tuesday; a second half-hour episode will air at 9:30 p.m.

Network: TLC

With a camera crew in tow, the couple spent two weeks in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hohhot, their son's birthplace. When they met him for the first time, he was "crying and turning different colors of red," Klein said, but it wasn't long before he calmed down and started to understand who they were.

"The Little Couple" premiered in 2009, and viewers have followed Klein and Arnold since their newlywed days, when they were new to Houston. Since then, they've built a home together, grown in their careers and decided they want to raise a child.

It hasn't been easy. Klein and Arnold tried to have a child using a surrogate, but the pregnancy ended in miscarriage at the end of the show's fourth season. They've been considering adoption ever since.

William has been in Houston for a little more than six weeks. So far, Klein and Arnold have taken him to the park in their neighborhood, to Le Peep in Rice Village and to Chuy's for his first Mexican food. They've also, of course, taken him to their store.

The store is named for the couple's two dogs, a Chihuahua and a rescue mutt who are used to being the babies of the family.

When the couple returned from China, Rocky and Maggie "saw us, were thrilled, and then they saw Will, and they freaked out," Klein said. "Our dogs are not exactly great with children."

But William is winning them over.

"I think he figured the way to get to them was to feed them," Klein said. "He starts throwing food on the floor, and now they're licking his hands and his face and jumping all over him. I think they've become fast friends."

Klein and Arnold are teaching their son English, and they think William will adjust to the cameras just fine. "He got an agent before we got home," Klein joked.

The pair originally agreed to do "The Little Couple," Klein said, because they wanted to show others how two people with disabilities have built successful, rewarding lives. In the past few years, though, as they've struggled to have a child, they've discovered viewers have connected with them on a different level.

"The fertility issues we ended up discovering - the miscarriage, all that fun stuff - wound up being something that's very common ground for a lot of people," Klein said. Viewers have followed their efforts with enthusiasm and compassion.

Starting this week, though, fans can celebrate as Klein and Arnold become parents to William - and maybe another child down the line.

"We're exploring those options," Arnold said. "We'd love for William to have a sibling."